BRANDON STOKES
Dear members of the school board,
I am emailing in regards to the prospect of adding days to the school year. I understand the movement to add days is for the benefit of extra learning, however, this will not change the output of me and my fellow students' knowledge or academic output. AP courses, for a start, are set classes with the main exam at the beginning of May. With current scheduling, we are stuck twiddling our thumbs for about 3 weeks until the class final. More days would only accentuate that problem.
In standard classes, there may be a little extra learning time, but not enough to show on a standardized test or change the outcome of a final to a notable extent.
The addition of days also affects us long term. I will have to pay my college tuition. In order to do so, I run a landscaping business in Los Alamos and White Rock. This work is only possible in the Spring, Fall, and Summer, with Summer being my main work period. This is due to the fact that I can only work small-scale jobs on Saturdays in the Spring and Fall. In the summer, I work upwards of 8-9 hours a day every day, but Sunday. At my current rate, I would lose an average of $170/day. A loss of ten business days, as you propose, is a loss of $1,700. My current intention is to go into the medical field and any amount of money I can make is that much less debt I have. This would be the same story with any higher education program.
I would urge the board to consider not extending the school year since the detriment far outweighs the few benefits the change would cause.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
-Brandon Stokes
LAPS Honors Student
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